Build 325 ------------ * Movement of land units is now constrained by terrain slope; the steeper the slower. You _can_ drive a truck convoy through a mountain, but it will be much slower than going through a valley. * Terrain slope also now affects radar clutter. A low-flying aircraft skimming over a mountain side is significantly harder to track (from a look-down capable radar) than when it is flying over a wheat field or open sea, even with clear line of sight.

Build 332 ------------ * Refined battery recharge rates for snorkelling submarines * Implemented look-down shoot-down restrictions for airborne radars (a first in the genre!). Aircraft equipped with radars with no LDSD ability (e.g. F-4B, MiG-25) cannot detect targets below them at all. Aircraft with limited LDSD ability (e.g. F-4J, MiG-23) can detect targets up to a look-down angle of 15 deg. Aircraft with full LDSD ability (e.g. F-15, MiG-31) can detect targets below through their full scan limits. * Forbidden zones have been renamed to Exclusion ZOnes and Nav Zones have been renamed to No-Navigation Zones. These terms better illustrate the functionality of these zones and are more consistent with historical examples (e.g. the RN's exclusion zone around the Falklands). * Includes the DB3000 v347 with various additions for scenarios under construction.

Build 333 ------------ * Added a separate branch to the BVR merge AI, for fighters without LDSD capability. Instead of flying very high, the aircraft will position itself just below the target's last reported altitude in order to be able to detect it prior to launching its BVR missiles (and to provide illumination for them if necessary). This BTW means that even between two aircraft with the very same airframe, powerplant and weaponry (e.g. F-4B & F-4J with identical Sparrow load), the one with LDSD ability holds a substantial kinematic advantage (typically translated to greater weapons reach) as it can afford to take the high ground prior to weapon launch.

* Aircraft on a mission (and especially strike & patrol) now make more agressive/pre-emptive use of available tankers. Instead of seeking them to refuel only after they are bingo (sometimes this can happen deep into the ingress leg), they instead top-up from them preemptively if they are in or near their path, to maximize endurance at fence-check. This greatly simplifies the management of long-range/endurance air ops.

Build 340 ----------- • The scenario author can now customize the realism settings for each scenario. The player can accept these settings or override them with his preferences. The player’s default preferences are automatically saved. • Reference points can now be selectively locked/unlocked by the scen author (e.g. to define strict no-navigation areas). • Includes the Cold War DB v3.2.5 and DB3000 v348 with lots of fixes and new updates.

Build 342 ----------- Several improvements to dogfight mechanics & AI. Among them: * Aircraft now bleed speed much more rapidly during tight turns. Their acceleration also suffers a lot more. * Pilots aggressively try to maintain at least corner speed (sometimes even trying to avoid stalling, after prolonged manouvering) in a dogfight by engaging their afterburners if available. This makes fuel fraction (and general bingo status, e.g. friendly base or tanker nearby) much more critical because exiting a fight due to low fuel almost always means giving the opponent at least one “free” shot, unless the pilot can afford to dash out. * Pilots can now fire fixed guns on slight deflection at a few +/- degrees off-axis (using rudder or pitch override). Rear-aspect IR missiles (e.g. AIM-9P, R-60M) also have an expanded rear-quarter envelope. The changes combine to make dogfights much more like RL accounts; short, semi-unpredictable and utterly vicious.

Build 343 ------------ Cluster bombs/warheads now have their dispersion pattern thickness adjusted just prior to release, depending on the target area size. This allows them to remain relatively effective even against very small-sized targets. (The reduced coverage area however also means that a small, fast target has a fair chance of avoiding the bomblet cloud altogether)

Build 345 ----------- • Wholly revised classification/identification pipeline for ESM detections. The new logic takes into account factors such as the range of possible matches derived from identified emissions (nailing down a ship with a “Palm Front” emitter is much easier than, say, a Decca navigation radar used by half the globe), the ESM sensor technological level, the time for which the contact has been held etc. Contacts are typically first type-identified (e.g. “destroyer”) and subsequently more precisely classified (e.g. “Udaloy class”) although an operator may get lucky/unlucky on either step.

• Submarines transiting to/from their patrol areas now prefer to snorkel en-route in order to conserve their battery/AIP for the patrol itself. If a nearby threat is detected (e.g. prowling MPA) the sub will dive until the threat is over, then rise again to periscope to continue recharging.

Build 349 ----------- * New map layer option: Display non-friendly range symbols. When enabled, range rings/wedges for class-identified contacts are displayed. The maximum potential ranges of sensors & weapons are displayed (worst-case assumption about enemy capabilities). To distinguish from friendly range-symbols, these are displayed using dashed rather than solid lines. They can be visually merged just like friendly range symbols.

Build 351 ---------- * Significant sensor feature added: Littoral clutter for surface-search radars. Factors that affect this are: - Amount of land in close proximity around the ship (even a few scattered islands help; a coast is better, a cove is practically an invisibility cloak). - Radar operating frequency (higher frequencies are usually less susceptible) - Antenna type (phased arrays get a big bonus because they can instantly revisit suspicious echoes and stick on them). - Radar tech level (software processing helps modern systems a lot) - Ship size (easier for a FAC to blend-in than a cruiser)

Under the right conditions, even a fairly large ship can practically vanish from radar sensors by exploiting nearby terrain. This is very significant for littoral ops.

Build 354 ------------- Relative (ie. anchored) reference points can now be of either fixed (default) or rotating bearing type. Fixed-bearing refpoints are useful for defining points/areas that remain on a specific true bearing from a unit regardless of the unit’s heading (e.g. “I want a constant CAP screen between my HVU and the enemy airbase”. Rotating-bearing refpoints are handy when the unit’s heading does matter (e.g. “I want an ASW patrol always directly ahead of my task force, regardless of my heading”). Have added extra menu commands to create either refpoint type and also switch from one type to another.

Build 358 ----------- * Added tweak on the DLZ calcs: If the target is an aircraft, the calculations will take into consideration a 10% fuel reserve for the weapon. This ensures that the AI will not perform edge-of-envelope shots against maneuverable targets (so turning tail and running from a SAM/AAM is now almost always pointless).

Build 364 ----------- New doctrine/RoE option: Automatic Evasion (Default: True). When True, units will automatically attempt to kinematically evade imminent threats, and ignore player-issued course commands. When False, units will continue on their course and obey player commands as before (they will still engage any threats with soft/hard-kill defences but will not attempt to outrun/outmanouver them).

Build 370 ----------- * New patrol type: SEAD patrol. Units assigned to this mission will patrol the given area and engage any anti-air threats (including identified early-warning radars). A SEAD-dedicated loadout is not necessary for this, although obviously SEAD-optimized systems will be more efficient & survivable. Note that all unit types can be assigned to this patrol, not just aircraft (e.g. USN ships in Vietnam were often tasked with SEAD patrols, and fitted with ARM-modified versions of their SAMs.) * Numerous tweaks & improvements on submarine/ASW mechanics & AI (thanks to Stormrider for a detailed walkthrough of flaws).

Build 374 ---------- * Aircraft under AI control (no manual altitude override) will attempt to match their altitude to that defined on their loadout's mission profile. This altitude can very from 200ft/66m (e.g. most loadouts for Tornado IDS, F-111, Su-24, B-1B, most late B-52s etc.) all the way to the stratosphere and beyond (MiG-25RB, most early B-52s, present-day JDAM CAS etc.) and is dependent on a number of factors (weapon requirements, typical aircraft CONOPS etc.). The player can still override this altitude manually.

* The loadout selection window now includes the mission profile attack altitude for each loadout, so that players can take this factor into account during mission preparation & planning.

Build 378 ----------- * The player can now select to view the message log on a separate window instead of having it embedded on the map (Game -> Game Options). This choice is saved as part of the game preferences.

Build 381 ---------- * New doctrine option: "Maintain Standoff" (True by default). Ships that have this option enabled will attempt to maintain their weapon-range advantage against their primary target if they have one (even manouver away from the target to open the range if necessary). If they are disadvantaged or have no information on enemy weapons they charge headlong as standard. * Shared magazines are now supported for all land group types instead of just airbases. So you can e.g. group multiple SAM or artillery batteries with multiple ammo bunkers and they can be resupplied from any of them. * Significant speed improvements in "heavy" scenarios. * Includes new Swedish imports by Jakob.

Build 386 ----------- * Ship UNREP has been improved; ships now also replenish missing weapons if possible, in addition to refuelling. The "shopping list" for items to be transferred is deliberately based on the default rather than maximum weapon counts for each weapon record, to avoid problems of first-weapon overloading (a.k.a. "We crammed the whole ship with gun rounds and now there's no room left for missiles").

Build 390 ----------- * Scenario descriptions can now include information as to their setting/location, year, difficulty & complexity. This helps new players to easily pick simple/easy scenarios and progressively move to tougher challenges as their skills & experience improve.

* Units that consider themselves to be under attack (typically determined as "a potential or confirmed threat is bearing down on me, regardless of distance") will now disergard silent-EMCON directives and automatically activate all their active-mode sensors, including jammers. The concept is that once a unit (or group) is under attack, the normal electronic hide-and-seek is largely irrelevant and optimum sensor coverage is of utmost priority (to maximize the ability to defend). This all-active override lasts only for the duration of the perceived attack. Once the unit ro group determines it is no longer under imminent threat it re-honors its EMCON orders.

Build 392 ----------- * Groups now auto-dissolve when they have no units remaining. * Scenario authors can now set explicit time-to-ready values for parked aircraft or docked ships/subs. * Includes the DB3000 v380 and CWDB v3.2.16, and revised versions of all production scenarios. * Includes a new series of Norway imports by Jakob.